Thrombocytopenia in malaria : who cares?

Despite not being a criterion for severe malaria, thrombocytopenia is one of the most common complications of both Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria. In a systematic review of the literature, platelet counts under 150,000/mm³ ranged from 24-94% in patients with acute malaria and this frequency was not different between the two major species that affected humans. Minor bleeding is mentioned in case reports of patients with P. vivax infection and may be explained by medullary compensation with the release of mega platelets in the peripheral circulation by megakaryocytes, thus maintaining a good primary haemostasis. The speculated mechanisms leading to thrombocytopenia are: coagulation disturbances, splenomegaly, bone marrow alterations, antibody-mediated platelet destruction, oxidative stress and the role of platelets as cofactors in triggering severe malaria. Data from experimental models are presented and, despite not being rare, there is no clear recommendation on the adequate management of this haematological complication. In most cases, a conservative approach is adopted and platelet counts usually revert to normal ranges a few days after efficacious antimalarial treatment. More studies are needed to specifically clarify if thrombocytopenia is the cause or consequence of the clinical disease spectrum

Differences in the diagnosis of primary cutaneous melanoma in the public and private healthcare systems in Joinville, Santa Catarina State, Brazil

Background: Cutaneous melanoma accounts for up to 80% of deaths caused by skin cancer. Diagnostic suspicion and access to medical care and early intervention in suspected cases is vital to the patient’s prognosis. Objectives: To compare demographic and histopathological characteristics of primary cutaneous melanoma diagnosed in the public healthcare system (Sistema Único de Saúde SUS) and the private system in Joinville, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study analyzed primary cutaneous melanoma cases recorded from 2003 to 2014 in the resident population of Joinville. Ethical approval was obtained from the local Research Ethics Committee. Results: 893 cases of primary cutaneous melanoma were identified. Patients in the private system were mostly younger, while there were more elderly patients in the public healthcare system (p <0.001). There was no statistically significant association between type of care (public/private) and gender or presence of multiple primary cutaneous melanomas. Histological diagnosis of superficial spreading melanoma was more common in patients treated in private healthcare, while nodular melanoma was more frequent in patients in the public healthcare system (p <0.001). Mean Breslow depth in patients treated in private healthcare was 1.35mm, compared to 2.72mm in the public system (p <0.001). Study limitations: This was a retrospective study using secondary databases. Conclusions: Thin cutaneous melanoma (in situ cutaneous melanoma and Breslow T1) showed the strongest association with the private healthcare system, while thick cutaneous melanoma was more frequent in the public system (Breslow category T3 and T4) (p <0.001)

Influência do choque térmico por resfriamento brusco do concreto após exposição a elevadas temperaturas em simulação de incêndio

Em situações de diferença abrupta de temperatura, como os incêndios, as estruturas devem suportar ao choque térmico. Portanto, esse artigo tem como objetivo avaliar o comportamento do concreto submetido às elevadas temperaturas e o posterior resfriamento brusco. Para isso analisou-se este efeito nas resistências características com fck de 25, 35 e 40MPa. As análises observaram as perdas de resistência, coloração e presença de fissuras nos concretos. Para isso, os corpos de prova foram submetidos às temperaturas de 300, 600, 900 e 1200ºC durante 90 minutos e depois resfriados. As resistências características de compressão dos corpos de prova foram comparadas ao concreto de referência e aos dados da bibliografia, obtendo-se a perda de resistência dos concretos resfriados bruscamente. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os concretos com fck de 35 e 40MPa apresentam maior perda de resistência quando comparados ao concreto com fck de 25MPa. Entretanto, nas temperaturas de 900 e 1200ºC, o percentual de perda é igual ao concreto com fck de 25MPa. Isso remete ao fato, de que quanto mais resistente for o concreto, e submetido à variação de temperatura, maior será a perda percentual e a incidência do surgimento de fissuras quando aquecido e resfriado. Palavras-chave: Temperatura. Incêndio. Resfriamento. Resistência. Concreto. Fissuras

Plasma fresco congelado: insumo farmacêutico para produção de medicamentos hemoderivados

Introduction: In Brazil, hemotherapy was started as a medical specialty in the 1940s in the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo axis with the inauguration of the first Blood Bank at the Fernandes Figueira Institute. As a governmental initiative, Law n. 1,075/1950/MS, which provides for the voluntary donation of blood, was promulgated, culminating with the Law n. 10,205/2001, which regulated paragraph 4 of article 199 of the Federal Constitution, regarding collection, processing, storage, distribution and application of blood and its components. Among the components obtained in the Hemotherapy Services, we can highlight the frozen fresh plasma (FFP) that can be transfused and, when becoming a surplus of the therapy, continue to be used to produce industrialized blood products. Objective: This study intends to demonstrate the most relevant aspects regarding the recovery of factor VIII content, in the FFP units collected in 72 Hemotherapy Services visited in the country, aiming at its safe and effective use both for therapeutic use and as a pharmaceutical input in the production of blood products. Method: The methodology adopted included five steps: Elaboration and validation of the questionnaire applied; Selection of Hemotherapy Services to be visited; Analysis of quality indicators according to the Donabedian Triad; Collection, packaging and transport of FFP units; Analysis of the Factor VIII content in the FFP units collected during the technical visit during the period from 2013 to 2015. Results: Among the results obtained, it is important to highlight the concentration of factor VIII (IU/mL), in the FFP units, with the following results: mean 0.68; standard deviation 0.32; coefficient of variation 47.1%, confidence interval 0.64 to 0.71. Conclusions: factor VIII content greater than or equal to 0.70 IU/mL was found in 38.5% of FFP units, as specified in the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia, which can and should be used as a pharmaceutical input in the production of blood products. It was also found a disposal of approximately 500 million IU/mL of factor VIII, which represents 83.0% of the annual acquisition by the Ministry of Health of Concentrate of factor VIII for medical uses. Such use could generate significant savings in public coffers.Introdução: No Brasil, a prática hemoterápica foi iniciada como especialidade médica, na década de 1940, no eixo Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo com a inauguração do primeiro Banco de Sangue no Instituto Fernandes Figueira. Como iniciativa governamental, foi promulgada pelo Ministério da Saúde a Lei n° 1.075, de 27 de março de 1950, que dispõe sobre a doação voluntária de sangue, culminando com a Lei nº 10.205, de 21 de março de 2001, que regulamentou o parágrafo 4º do artigo 199 da Constituição Federal, relativo à coleta, processamento, estocagem, distribuição e aplicação do sangue e seus componentes. Dentre os componentes obtidos nos Serviços de Hemoterapia destaca-se o plasma fresco congelado (PFC) que pode ser transfundido e quando excedente da terapia, seguir para ser beneficiado a medicamentos hemoderivados industrializados. Objetivo: Desta forma, este estudo pretende demonstrar os aspectos mais relevantes relativos à recuperação do teor de fator VIII, nas unidades de PFC coletadas em 72 Serviços de Hemoterapia visitados no país, visando seu aproveitamento seguro e eficaz tanto para o uso terapêutico, quanto como insumo farmacêutico na produção de medicamentos hemoderivados. Método: A metodologia adotada compreendeu cinco etapas: Elaboração e validação do questionário aplicado; Seleção dos Serviços de Hemoterapia a serem visitados; Análise dos indicadores de qualidade segundo a Tríade de Donabedian; Coleta, acondicionamento e transporte das unidades de PFC; Análise do teor de fator VIII nas unidades de PFC coletadas durante a visita técnica, no período de 2013 a 2015. Resultados: Dentre os resultados obtidos, destaca-se a análise do teor de fator VIII (UI/mL) nas unidades de PFC, com os seguintes resultados: média de 0,68; desvio-padrão de 0,32; coeficiente de variação de 47,1%, intervalo de confiança de 0,64 a 0,71. Conclusões: O teor de fator VIII superior ou igual a 0,70 UI/mL foi encontrado em 38,5% das unidades de PFC, conforme especificado na Farmacopeia Brasileira e esses podem e devem ser utilizados como insumo farmacêutico na produção de medicamentos hemoderivados. Este estudo também evidenciou o descarte de aproximadamente 500 milhões de UI/mL de fator VIII o que representa 83,0% da aquisição anual, pelo Ministério da Saúde, do medicamento Concentrado de fator VIII. Essa utilização poderia gerar uma expressiva economia aos cofres públicos

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ